The Prince and the Pirate
by IrisFlower
Summary: Across the empty stretches of Namek walked two unlikely figures, their direction unknown, and their destination an equal mystery...*Chapter 6 is up*!
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or any of it's characters. Akira Toriyama does. Kudos to him. 

Nekita-Tzui looked at the wreckage of a perfectly good ship and sighed heavily, switching her gaze hastily from the smoking ruins to the woman sitting on the ground next to her.

Avril was polishing one of the twin pistols that were usually situated at her waist, secured there by two leather straps, along with a ribbon of ammo. She looked up disinterestedly as she felt Nekita's gaze fall upon her.

"Oh! Don't look so glum," she said cheerfully, grinning in her usual disarming way," it's not _that_ bad, and besides it could be a lot worse." A portion of the craft came crashing down loudly, falling with a heavy thud. Nekita looked hopelessly at it, and shook her head.

"How?" She demanded.

"Well, we could've landed on a planet with no civilization what's so ever, _then_ we would've been in trouble, but since we're on…er…what did you say this place was called again." 

"Namek," Nekita said shortly.

"Right, since we're on Namek, we'll probably get help in no time." Avril stood up, swinging the gun around her finger, before replacing it in its holster. After that she turned from the wrecked spacecraft and surveyed their surroundings with a critical eye.

Namek was certainly an interesting planet, she reflected. They had crash-landed near a deep green pool, surrounded by thin stick-like trees with a mass of leaves crowning their tops. Everything else was bare rock or high cliffs. She shook back her raven hair from her face, and glanced at the sky. Clouds were gathering at the horizon, uh-oh, she thought, not good. 

"Well?" Nekita demanded," what now?"

"Don't pop a vein, Tzui-Tzui, it's not like this is the end of the world, you high Priestesses need to learn to relax a bit." Avril stretched out her arms and sat back down with a leisurely sigh. Nekita flushed slightly at the mention of her former title, and reluctantly lowered to the ground as well.

She sighed and leaned back against the tall boulder that sheltered them from the wreckage. How long had it been since she had met Avril? It seemed like she'd known her all her life but in reality it couldn't have been more than a week. Nekita smiled faintly, remembering the circumstances of their first meeting. Sure at the time it didn't seem so funny, she was the High Priestess of Gelra, a planet so far away from any civilization that it was still practically living in its own time. She had been ruling just a few years when a plot to assassinate her had forced her into exile. On the night that she was making her way from the palace that had become a death trap, Avril just happened to be casually robbing it for a client who had his eye on one of their many artifacts. This was rare; Avril later explained, distastefully, since she usually didn't work for clients, she didn't specify if she usually robbed royal dwellings, that one she left for Nekita to figure out. But seeing the fleeing royal must have sent a wave of compassion through the thief-slash-con artist, (or as Avril herself proudly put it, Pirate). So she took her along, on her extremely well equipped and state of the art cruiser, which now lay in smoldering ruins only a couple of hundred feet away.

Nekita sighed again and shook her head, covering her eyes with her hands. She really wanted to know how Avril planned to fix all this.

The pirate-woman meanwhile appeared to be taking a nap. Her brilliant green eyes were closed, and her arms folded comfortably, an expression of total peace on her face.

"Avril!" Nekita exclaimed impatiently.

"Huh! What, oh yeah, sorry, I'm awake." She opened her eyes and looked around wistfully.

"We can't just stay here," Nekita pointed out patiently," we have to get help."

"Help?" Avril frowned slightly," aww man, tell me something, Namek doesn't happen to go into the Federation of Liberated Planets does it?" Nekita looked puzzled.

"I don't think so."

"Good," Avril said smiling," because I'm wanted on every one of those. Now, did you happen to glance at the radar before we fell?" Nekita shook her head," nuts, that's gonna make this harder, but hey, difficult is not impossible, right?" The priestess didn't look so sure, so reluctantly Avril got up again, dusting herself off. She glanced briefly at her ship, scowling ferociously. "What hit us, anyway? Whatever it was better watch it's back from now on, that baby cost me practically my whole…er…life savings." She ended hastily. Nekita rolled her eyes and got up.

"I think a large energy readout registered right before the crash, we were very close to it, something's going on around here, and I don't like it, where would such force come from." She shook her head worriedly," from all I've heard about Namek the people on it are supposed to be peaceful, they wouldn't have any use for the type of energy I felt."

"Maybe it wasn't the locals." Avril suggested, casually slinging a semi-automatic rifle across her shoulder. On most days Avril was a walking arsenal, when she was angry the arsenal doubled in size, until it resembled something like a military warehouse. Nekita glanced apprehensively at the rifle, and then at the sky.

"I don't like it," she repeated again," it's too quiet here." Avril tilted her head to one side. Her gaze slid slowly to the pool of water they were situated next to. A sudden ripple came over its surface, materializing as if from nowhere. The pirate's eyes widened.

"Get Down!" She shouted at Nekita, simultaneously ducking behind the long boulder and managing to pull the slightly lost priestess along with her. Nekita didn't have time to ask what had happened. A tremendous tremor shook the ground, causing the ground to crack and slide away beneath them. A shower of rocks and pebbles rained down from the sky, and the water in the pool shot up in huge fountains. It felt like the earth was being torn apart from the inside out. But very slowly the shaking calmed slightly, until it was no more than a distant tremor, and then vanished completely.

Avril immediately popped back up, dusting herself off calmly, as if she had only bent down to tie her shoe, instead of save her life. She glanced around thoughtfully, and whistled softly.

"Hey, Tzui-Tzui, look at this." Very slowly and shakily Nekita got up, and looked in the direction Avril was pointing. Right behind them, directly where their craft had been was now a long jagged ravine, its edges still alive with remains of fire. The ship was nowhere to be seen, swallowed up by the shaking earth. "So much for getting help." Avril muttered, pushing her hair away from her face, and turning towards Nekita," well, you're the priestess, any idea what that was?" The young exile bowed her head slightly in thought.

"It had a definitely familiar energy signature." She said confidently, this area was her expertise, she new different types of energy and force inside and out. It came as part of her training." I'm not sure exactly what it belongs to, but whatever it is, it's very strong, and I'm afraid…" she paused," it's not here to do good." She said at last.

"No kidding," Avril said grinning," can you tell what direction it came from." Nekita frowned in concentration, trying to pick out the now fading energy at its central point. 

"There," she said at last, nodding in the general direction where their craft had been," somewhere past those mountains, and a little to the left." A sly smile was beginning to creep across the pirate's face. Nekita looked at her suspiciously," why? Wait! Avril! You're not suggesting…"

"Why not? We can use some excitement, things have been pretty boring lately."

"Boring!" Nekita exclaimed," just yesterday we barely managed to escape with our lives from that marauder band." Avril waved her hand carelessly.

"Marauders, Hah! That's nothing! Those excuses for a good fight couldn't hit an elephant if it was standing right in front of them waving a red flag! No, this seems like it could be interesting."

"But Avril," Nekita cried despairingly," this thing's really strong, it could hurt you, I can feel its power still growing." Avril grinned, and placed her hands on the very tops of her twin pistols.

"That's why I've got these," she said smiling," and besides, this thing crashed my almost-brand-new ship, I'm on three of the top ten wanted lists in the universe because of what I had to do to get that ship, I'm not letting it go this easy." She looked up towards the far cliffs, then down at Nekita. "Come on, Tzui-Tzui, an adventure never hurt anyone." Nekita was about to disagree, but Avril didn't let her. "Besides, it's not like we have anything left to do here." She put her hands on her hips and laughed, beginning to walk towards the mountains behind which the powerful being or force was supposed to be situated. The priestess hesitated a moment, then got up to follow her friend.

"After all, she might need my help yet." She thought to herself.

***


	2. Chapter Two

Across the empty stretches of Namek walked two unlikely figures, their direction unknown, and their destination an equal mystery

Across the empty stretches of Namek walked two unlikely figures, their direction unknown, and their destination an equal mystery.

One was a tall and amazingly beautiful woman, with a force of presence and personality that could be felt just by looking at her. Wearing long baggy pants, and a loose shirt, and strapped and slung with weapons of every sort and caliber she walked head up, eyes shining directly into what was out there to waiting for her.

Next to her was a girl barely older, if not younger. Carrying herself rather shyly, and keeping her long slender fingers tightly clutched about the folds of her light robes she glanced once in a while from her friend to the surroundings and back again. Her golden hair was pinned up carefully with a shimmering black pendant, and her gray eyes were filled with uncertainty and worry, yet she continued to follow.

They had been walking a good portion of that day, and still Avril showed no signs of tiring. In fact her energy only seemed to increase the more distance they covered.

"How much farther?" She would ask over her shoulder once in a while, and Nekita would tell her the latest on the powerful force.

Finally after a few hours worth of travel they appeared to find it, sheltered in a deep valley, surrounded by more of the green pools and slender trees.

Avril looked around eagerly, searching for any signs of the powerful being. She frowned thoughtfully. There was nothing on the ground below them, nothing that is, except a few long cracks running from side to side, and some flimsy shrubbery that looked ridiculously out of place where it was.

"Oh well, nothing here, we can go now right?" Nekita turned away hopefully from the valley.

"Not so fast," Avril laughed," Someone's been here, and whoever it was, is still around…" She looked up, and smiled pointing. "Aha! There we go." Nekita looked up uneasily. Her eyes widened in surprise and she backed away slightly into the shadow of the cliff. Far above them, so far that they were almost dots from this distance were a cluster of figures. It seemed like three from here, two smaller ones and one slightly bigger, they appeared to be watching something…but what? Ah, there, very close to them, two more shapes, except these were moving very quickly. They were fighting! Nekita realized quickly, so this power belonged to an actual living being she was afraid of that. Avril was gazing up curiously, following the actions of the fighters with intense interest.

"Avril listen," she pulled on her friend's sleeve, causing her to look down." Listen, that power I've felt…it…it belongs to one of those two," she pointed to the fighters. " And it's not a good power Avril, I can feel that, it's a destructive power…" her eyes darted frantically back and forth, from the fighters to Avril," it _will_ hurt whatever gets in its way, and it will destroy it." The pirate smiled faintly.

"Relax, Tzui-Tzui, I'm not going to fight…yet." Nekita was about to sigh in relief, but the last word caught her ear sharply.

"What do you mean, 'yet?'" Avril wasn't listening; she was now surveying something on the other side of the valley, something that appeared to interest her just as much as the fighters had. "What is it? What do you see?" Nekita demanded anxiously. A huge grin showed itself on Avril's face.

"There's a ship over there," she replied pointing. "From here it looks kind of cool, I think we should check it out." Nekita sank down on the rocks hopelessly.

"Avril, you don't even know who it belongs to, what if someone's there, and…" Avril waved away her concerns with an impatient hand.

"Right, right, I'll keep that in mind, now come on, I want to come back to this place before too much else happens." Nekita thought she was going to have a heart attack. Traveling with Avril was definitely _not_ a healthy experience. The pirate appeared to have a limitless supply of energy, which seemed only to grow more intense when there was the possibility of getting into some sort of trouble, or as she put it, 'excitement.' Reluctantly Nekita got up, and sighing heavily extended her arms in front of her, as if they were handcuffed, and she was now to be lead.

"All right, let's go." Avril smiled.

"Oh come on, don't be so glum, you're always glum, were you glum on Gelra, because you know, that might be why they decided to get rid of you."

"Hey!" Nekita cried out indignantly. Avril grinned, and attempted looking sorry, failing miserably because they both knew she was right. If anything Nekita _did_ need to lighten up a bit.

"All right, all right, I'm sorry, just a suggestion." Avril said, her green eyes sparkling," now let's go." Nekita looked over the valley and groaned.

"_Walk_ all that way?" She asked rubbing her aching back. Avril considered.

"Oh, why not, I guess we could fly." Nekita smiled gratefully," it will save time, I guess," she added reluctantly. For some strange reason Avril considered flying independently for use as transportation, cheating. Nekita had no idea why. The pirate would lie shamelessly if it meant she could escape death by a hair's width. She would fire with the steadiest accuracy taking advantage of every weak spot her opponent had, and she would waltz into space craft or palaces, or anything that happened to have an easy lock to pick without the slightest hesitation. Yet she would not fly without a good reason.

"Flying's for sissies," she would say with disgust," 'normal heroes always take the long way about,' the wisest words I've ever heard." But very rarely she could be coaxed into flying, _very_ rarely. 

As a high priestess Nekita had learned to fly before she could even walk, and had developed the skill over the years, but with Avril it sadly had to lay dormant for long stretches at a time. Not that it was that bad really, but still she kind of missed it. 

The pirate didn't give her time to reminisce, rising gracefully into the air; she did a forward tumble, followed by a joyful cartwheel, then shot off, towards the place where she had seen the spaceship. Nekita followed, rather quietly, gazing once in a while, a little bit nervously at the darting figures up above them, and hoping that Avril wasn't serious.

"If she fought, she wouldn't possibly be able to win." She thought anxiously.

***

"What a piece of junk!" Avril exclaimed angrily kicking at the inner wall of the tube shaped vessel they were located inside. "You'd think people would at least have the decency to clean up once in a while." Nekita shuddered as the powerful kick reverberated throughout the metal with a hollow shivering sound.

This place gave her the creeps, when they had landed next to it and opened the combination lock door (Pathetic! Avril had exclaimed, I've broken into piggy banks that were harder to open than this) they had found the place littered with dead or unconscious bodies. Weird-looking blasters and pistols were scattered here and there, and in the eerie silence you could almost hear their long past footsteps, still echoing against the thin metal.

But neither the atmosphere, nor the fact that there had been some sort of battle around here seemed to bother Avril. She barely paid attention to anything but the interior of the ship. And she was anything but impressed.

All the doors they passed were locked by combinations, which she easily cracked, and all the rooms they entered were filled either with bulky machinery, or used as some sort of storage.

"Well, I guess the only question now is, whether this thing'll fly." She looked at Nekita thoughtfully," what do you think, Tzui-Tzui, can this jumble of scrap metal muster up enough energy to keep itself in the air?" The priestess glanced around critically; making mental estimations as to the weight of all the possible equipment needed to keep the craft in working order. It was certainly not as elegant, as graceful or nearly as well equipped as Avril's vessel, but it would fly, so she told her so. "Good, warm up the engines, we're taking off."

"What!" Nekita gasped," we can't just do that, this ship belongs to someone, they'll come back looking for it and…and…" It was hopeless, Avril wasn't even listening, she had found yet another room that interested her, and upon opening it, something inside seemed to grab her attention.

"Hello, what have we here." She walked all the way into the room, directly to the far wall, where a huge machine was humming, busily performing some much-needed task. A circular glass opening showed the inside to be filled with liquid, but that wasn't all, a man was suspended in it, bobbing up and down along with the force of the water.

His eyes were closed, and a breathing apparatus was attached over his nose and mouth, but from what could be seen, he looked rather friendly, except for the fact that he was pretty badly beat up. Avril placed her hand to her chin, thoughtfully tapping her lips with her index finger, and squinting into the depths of the mysterious chamber trying to figure out what a man would be doing suspended in liquid, all alone on a ship.

Nekita came to stand next to her, glancing cautiously over her shoulder. Avril came closer and tapped the glass with her finger; the man's eyes snapped open. Nekita jumped back in horror, but Avril only grinned and waved to the occupant of the chamber. He seemed a little bit confused, but not afraid.

"What…what's going on?" Nekita stammered.

"Just keep smiling and waving." Avril instructed, keeping the grin plastered on her face, and giving her instructions through clenched teeth.

Abruptly another strong tremor shook the earth, the ship teetered dangerously for a moment gave a long thorough shake, and then the power went out. "Oh great!" The pirate called out from across the room, where she had darted in order to escape damage in the earthquake," what's going on out there, hey! High Priestess, some light would be good about now."

"Oh, right," Nekita responded weakly from her position next to the now silent liquid-filled chamber. She straightened and stood up, extending her hand, palm up in front of her, "Element of Fire I bid you appear!" She shut her eyes, and raised her arm higher. In an instant a bulb of brightly burning flame was cradled in her bare palm, she raised it high over her head, and surveyed the damage.

"Not too bad," Avril said, dusting herself off, and coming to a standing position from her crouch on the floor," could be worse." Another small tremor shook the ground, not as big as the first, but enough to cause Nekita to lose her balance, and almost extinguish the flame she carried. She looked reproachfully at Avril, who only shrugged and walked over to the darkened machine. 

Sounds were coming from inside of it, but not sounds of turning gears or pumping water. A sharp metallic clang, followed by some gurgled words, that sounded a bit like a warning-

"GHHHEEETTT, GGGWAYYYY, FROM GGGGGOOORRGGG."

"What!" Nekita exclaimed anxiously. Avril tilted her head to one side.

"Not sure, I think he said 'heat way gorg.'" Nekita's eyes widened. She didn't have time to ask how that could possibly be useful information, when suddenly the glass opening cracked, and a spray of water, so powerful that it made a hole in the opposite wall shot through. Her eyes followed it fearfully, and then turned back to the source.

From the chamber emerged the stranger, soaking wet, breathing heavily, and looking at them with wide curious eyes that sparkled faintly in the light of Nekita's flame.

"Hello," Avril said without hesitation," hope you don't mind, we're just looking around," she leaned towards Nekita and whispered quietly," if he goes for either one of us, slip behind him, and run like crazy towards the nearest exit." Nekita looked up suspiciously at the strange man. He didn't _look_ like he'd hurt them.

"Who…who are you?" He asked wide-eyed.

"Who're you?" Avril asked, squinting up at him.

"I'm Goku," Avril nodded knowingly.

"Of course you are, well Goku, it was nice meeting you, but my friend and I'll probably get going now." She made a movement towards the door, pulling Nekita after her. She wasn't sure who this guy was, but he took quite a beating, and if he happened to be the owner of the ship, it was very likely that he wasn't in a good mood, no sense in making it worse by explaining that they broke into it.

"Ohhh, pretty!" He exclaimed suddenly, pointing to Nekita's outstretched hand, the one that held the little dancing ribbon of fire. Avril stopped and looked at him carefully. His big black eyes were shining in fascination, and he was bent over Nekita's hand studying it very thoughtfully. Nekita looked helplessly from Goku to Avril, holding her hand away slightly, while at the same time attempting to keep her balance.

Goku stretched out a finger, and appeared about to touch the dancing flame, when Avril quickly seized his finger, and folding it back into his fist, replaced his arm next to his hip.

"Let's just keep that there, shall we." She said, looking at him through slightly narrowed eyes.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry," he rubbed the back of his neck, laughing softly," I just wanted to see how she did that." All thought of fleeing appeared to leave Avril's mind. She was looking at Goku with faint interest, her eyes shining slightly.

"So, Goku, suppose you tell us what you're doing strapped up to a hunk of metal like this," she said conversationally kicking the floor for emphasis. His eyes grew wide.

"It's a pretty long story," he said frowning, suddenly he clutched his stomach, and fell to the floor. Nekita gasped in horror, and kneeled next to him.

"What's the matter? What's wrong? Are you all right?" She asked hurriedly.

"Yeah," he said raising his head up to see her," but…I'm starving! You don't happen to have any food with you? Do you?" He glanced hopefully first at Nekita then at Avril.

The pirate was grinning from ear to ear. 

"Sorry, when our ship crashed, we were kind of concerned with getting ourselves out alive, we didn't really think about food." Goku sat up with interest.

"You _crashed_ on Namek?" He asked, getting up again. Avril wasn't looking at him, she was busy pulling out a jumble of wires from the wall next to her, which appeared to have been covered by paneling a moment before.

"Mmmhhhmmm." Was all that she answered. "Tzui-Tzui, fill him in, will ya, I'm going to try to get the power back on." And she began to twist the wires around expertly in her well-trained hands, completely concentrated on her work and nothing else. 

Nekita smiled shyly up at Goku, and he grinned back, waiting for her account of themselves.

"Well…you see." And very hastily, with none of the relish for details that Avril had, she told Goku what had happened to their ship, and what they were now doing here. He frowned faintly when she told him about the power she sensed, but at that point Avril called for Nekita to come help her with something.

"That should do it." She said, wiping her hands on the front of her pants," now to see if it works, Tzui-Tzui, if you will?" She gestured dramatically towards the wall, half of which was now removed and completely rewired. Nekita hesitated slightly.

"Are you sure it's all right with…er…" She nodded delicately towards Goku. Avril glanced at him quickly.

"Why not, he's a big boy, he can handle it." The priestess sighed and turned towards the wall. Avril moved away, and very casually got down behind a huge machine, covering her head with her hands.

"I suggest you do the same," she called to Goku, who repeated her pose, somewhat uncertainly.

Nekita looked over her shoulder to make sure they were safely sheltered, then turned back to the wall, and closed her eyes.

"Elements of earth, Lightning!" She called out, stretching out her hand, and pointing at the disassembled wall. A powerful bolt of pure white heat erupted from her finger, slamming directly into the metal, and causing the whole ship to shake. There was a reluctant hum, and a rusty cough, and suddenly the lights flashed. Once, twice, and they were back for good.

Avril got up and smiled approvingly.

"Good, conversations in the dark are just not the same as when there's some light. Now, Goku, you know all about us, but we still have no idea about you, so I suggest you get comfortable, and start talking." He looked with some surprise at Avril and then at Nekita.

"Is she always like this?" He asked with some amusement.

"Always," Avril replied grinning. 

"I don't know as much about you as you think," he offered, leaning back against the machine they found him in," I don't even know your names."

"Easy fix," the pirate replied, picking up a piece of stray wiring and beginning to tie it into some sort of complex knot," I'm Avril, and the All-Powerful-Priestess over there is Nekita." His black eyes studied them carefully. Nekita smiled, and clapped her hands together, extinguishing the flame that had kindled in her palm. "And so far all we know about you is that you're Goku, oh, by the way, you don't happen to be the owner of this ship, do you?" Goku shook his head," good, Tzui-Tzui, warm up the engines, we're taking off." His eyes widened.

"Wait! You're not…leaving?" Avril looked at him thoughtfully.

"That depends," she said leisurely," on whether there's anything keeping us here. Personally I'm rather curious about a fight going on outside right now…" Nekita sighed heavily.

"Avril, please don't start that again." She didn't know what was worse, having Avril steal the ship, along with Goku, or have her get mixed up in the fight with that powerful force.

"Listen, my friends are out there, and…my son, I have to help them, the fight they're fighting right now is against a very powerful creature, Frieza, if they don't defeat him now…well…the whole universe is as good as doomed." Avril listened, her eyes beginning to shine with that all-too-familiar light.

"So you're saying that the fate of the cosmos or whatever rests in the outcome of that fight?" She asked, barely keeping herself from smiling. Goku nodded gazing up at her. "What are the odds?" She demanded.

"Not good," he admitted." Frieza's way stronger than I thought, and he's still getting stronger, they're all trying to stop him…but…I think they need me if they're going to have any chance at all. And I'm still not completely recovered, the power from that thing went out too early, I don't think I have the strength…" Avril was listening with intense interest, and Nekita didn't like the expression in her eyes. It was the same look she got just before she suggested something like strolling into a bank-ship, and seeing if they could evade the alarm long enough to get to the priceless artifacts kept in the safes. In a word it was the look she got just before they crossed the last line and the alarm sounded, making the stakes go up. Avril loved to play the odds, the worse her chances for success the harder she would try to win and the more likely it was that she would.

Now as she sat listening to Goku, Nekita could almost see the thoughts taking shape in her mind, and she didn't like where they were going.

"So exactly how hard is this guy to beat?" Avril asked casually.

"Pretty near impossible," Goku said sadly. The pirate jumped up with a delighted laugh.

"Wonderful! I knew I'd find some excitement around here sooner or later, Goku, I have a proposition for you." She said cheerfully, completely ignoring Goku's startled gaze. "What do you say, that while you stay on this thing and recover, get your full strength back and stuff, we'll go out there and keep Frieza busy for a while, so he doesn't get bored and start picking off your friends."

"Avril! No!" Nekita cried out," you don't know how strong that thing is! It's terrible! I can't stand being this close to it, I can't be there right next to it." She bowed her head, shuddering slightly. But the pirate-woman only shook her head, smiling faintly.

"You don't have to come, Tzui-Tzui. I know all that energy stuff bothers you, and you don't like messy fights, so you can stay here with Goku, I'd love to go by myself, this is becoming very interesting, I don't want to drag you into this one unless you really want to come." Nekita sighed and shook her head. Avril was something else. She didn't care at all about what happened to her, and she kept dragging Nekita along on all this because she knew she could protect her. The prospect of a fight to the death never scared Avril, it only challenged her.

"Half the fun is staying alive," she said once," the other half is beating the stuffing out of the guy who has the nerve to try to kill you." Nekita looked up.

"Are you kidding, let you go off all by yourself, who knows what you'll do without me." Avril smiled, and turned to Goku.

"It's all up to you now, warrior-boy, so what do you say? Let the two tough girls go out there and do their thing, or wait until you can handle it? Your call." Goku looked at her for a moment, the expression of total shock and surprise still evident on his highly likable features. Suddenly a hard grin creased the lines of his mouth.

"You sure don't mess around do you?" He said getting up, and gazing her directly in the eye.

"Nope, never did, never will." Avril replied calmly without blinking an eye.

"To tell you the truth, if you think you could pull it off, _if_ you think you can handle Frieza long enough for me to recover my full strength, you may just buy us the time we need." Avril nodded.

"So it's a deal," he smiled.

"You bet."

"Good! Then shake on it." Without hesitation, Goku took Avril's slender hand in his large, strong one, and shook it firmly. An expression of pure joy crossed Avril's amazing green eyes. "Great! Then let's go." Goku looked at her critically.

"You're not afraid, are you, Frieza has a lot of power, and I never met a…_girl_ fighter."

"You mean you've never met one that was any good." The pirate observed flexing her hands slightly.

"Well…no," he replied very candidly.

"So you think I'll take one look at the big, bad, mean man and get all girly and scared and start running for the hills." She continued a spark of amusement coming into her eyes. Nekita had to smile at this one, _Avril_ running for the hills? Hah! Not likely. Goku didn't say anything, but his big honest eyes reflected that he was thinking something along those lines. Who could blame him actually, when the fate of the universe rests in the hands of a woman who you've met five minutes ago you'd probably tend to get suspicious, but then again, you take what you can get.

Avril looked up at him again, eyes shimmering softly.

"Goku there're only two things in this life that I've never saw the point of. One was why banks leave their doors wide open, but chain those little pens to the counter," she stopped a moment, shaking her head as if still considering this great mystery," the other one's fear." She shrugged grinning. "So I think you'll just have to trust me." A gentle tremor shook the craft, as if giving warning that a larger one was on its way. "Well, I think that's our cue," she looked over at Nekita," let's go."

"But where's the exit to this thing, we've been through so many corridors I can't remember which way it was." Avril shrugged, not showing the slightest bit of concern. Slinging the semi-automatic rifle down from her shoulder, she pointed it up at the ceiling and fired a quick round. Replacing the weapon, and waiting for a moment for the smoke to clear, she soon rose up into the neat Avril-and-Nekita shaped hole.

"Take care, Goku!" She called down to the amazed warrior," and hurry up will ya, we can only do this for so long." And with another cheerful laugh she was gone.

***


	3. Chapter Three

He will pay for what he has done to my race __

He will pay for what he has done to my race! Vegeta thought in fury, barely dodging yet another powerful kick from Frieza.

The monster only laughed and flew behind him, so quickly that it was impossible to trace the movement.

"Oh, Vegeta, what a pity you've decided to turn against me," he sighed. 

"Stand still!" Vegeta cried, trying to get in a futile punch. Frieza laughed again, and disappeared.

The Sayjin prince floated in mid-air, sweat running down his face, and into his eyes, blurring his vision. He had to defeat Frieza. He would defeat him, he was a Super-Sayjin after all, he had the power. An unexpected punch to the stomach bent him in two, as he coughed painfully, staggering against the pain.

Frieza's red eyes appeared a little bit above him.

"I've had enough of this little game." He announced casually, floating down to a little island amid the green waters. Vegeta froze where he was, staring down in terror.

No! No! What if he was wrong, what if he wasn't a Super-Sayjin. Frieza was so fast…what if…Doubt stabbed him sharply, and his eyes grew involuntarily wide as he realized that he had no chance. He didn't have a fraction of the strength Frieza had…humiliating to admit, even to himself, but…it was true.

On the ground Frieza was twitching his tail, patiently waiting for a good moment to attack. His red eyes were glowing with the knowledge of victory, and a painful death for Vegeta, the sayjin who had the nerve to betray him.

A wave of icy fear washed over Vegeta's heart as he realized that he was no match against Frieza. Just moments ago he had used his most powerful attack against him, it had drained almost every last bit of energy he had, it would undoubtedly had destroyed a good portion of the planet, but Frieza kicked it away as easily as if it were a little child's play thing.

A sudden painful tear rolled down the proud sayjin's cheek as he realized that his death would come in a matter of moments, forced out by the anger and humiliation he felt burning inside of him. Staggering back slightly, he tried to get ready for whatever Frieza would try. Not fast enough.

With a sudden leisurely motion Frieza rose up into the air, doing a graceful somersault, and coming to where Vegeta floated in the space of a half-second. A brief smile crossed his odd face, then his tail whipped out, slicing against the prince's shoulders, and sending him flying backwards. 

Frieza followed, coming up behind him, and slamming his two powerful arms into Vegeta's chest, hurtling him to the ground, where he landed with a gigantic splash, directly into one of the sparkling green pools.

Blood rushed down Vegeta's face, and water began to fill his lungs as he fell deeper into the waters.

But Frieza wasn't done with him yet. The cruel tyrant raised one hand above the pool, sending the water flying in a cyclone around the little spot of ground where Vegeta now lay.

Keeping the walls of water up with the shear force of his mind Frieza lowered down into the valley of dry ground, and stood over Vegeta, clucking his tongue in mock pity.

"What? Giving up already?" He kicked the sayjin, so that the other turned over on his side with a painful groan. Reaching down Frieza grabbed a handful of Vegeta's wild hair and pulled, forcing the prince to his feet. Wrapping his smooth tail about Vegeta's neck, he held him up like this, before clenching his hands into fists, and punching into the sayjin's back with all the strength he would permit himself, in order to torment his prey before killing it.

Vegeta shut his eyes, barely attempting to make some sort of struggle against Frieza. The pain was blinding, he could barely tell where the ground was and where was the sky, they only thing he felt were the seeming knives of Frieza's fists cutting into his back and shoulders. Collecting all the strength he had left he pushed with all his might against the monster, attempting to get free. But everything he tried was useless, Frieza had him in a grip of steel, and nothing except death could loosen it.

Then…

Abruptly two clear blasts were heard. Gunfire? Impossible!

But suddenly Frieza's tail unwrapped from around his neck, and he heard an irritated grunt come from behind him. Something was happening around him, but what? Where was Frieza, what was going on!

A pair of beautiful green eyes suddenly came into his field of vision, or whatever was left of it anyway.

He looked into them angrily, because they seemed to be smiling.

"Ridiculous woman! What are you grinning about!" He muttered. The eyes closed for a moment as she smiled faintly then opened. A soft slender hand reached down below his chin, and touched a spot on the side of his neck. Then everything blurred and only darkness surrounded him.

Avril picked up Vegeta in her arms, slinging him over her shoulder as if he weighed nothing more than the rifle still in place there. Nekita was gazing nervously in the direction of the odd little creature that was bent over his tail in a frenzied fury. Looking up he met her gaze with his terrible red eyes, and with a cry sprang up, pointing a finger, at the tip of which a sharp violet light was beginning to glow.

"Avril! Look out, he's about to fire!" Nekita called out.

"Take it easy, Tzui-Tzui, woah! This guy weighs a ton!" The quick blast of energy came suddenly, heading directly for Avril. The pirate only tilted her head slightly to one side, and the arrow of energy sped harmlessly by her. "All right, let's get to higher ground or something," she called over to Nekita, not paying the slightest attention to Frieza's fury, or her close brush with death," better get this guy with the rest of Goku's friends, and then we'll come back." She flew up swiftly, not giving Nekita a chance to do anything but follow.

For the moment Frieza was too outraged with disbelief to do anything but stare after them. In another second he would come around, Nekita only hoped that it wouldn't be too late by then.

Avril seemed to know exactly what she was doing; she spotted the little group of people clustered close to the cyclone's mouth, peering down with wide, frightened eyes.

The pirate landed lightly directly in front of the foremost of them. A huge green guy, with little antennae sticking out of his head. She placed Vegeta carefully on the ground a good distance away from the pool, propping him up against a boulder.

Then she turned, and what was possibly the longest staring contest in the history of staring contests took place.

The green guy stared at Avril; the bald guy next to him stared at Avril. The little kid behind him stared at Avril. Nekita stared at the three of them. Avril was rubbing her shoulder where Vegeta had been placed, and at the same time, blowing the smoke away from the barrel of her rifle. After a short pause she turned towards the three of them.

"All right, which one of you's Goku's son?" The three of them exchanged puzzled glances." Oh, come on, it's not such a touch question." Still nothing. She sighed in exasperation. "Well, the green guy's out, so's the bald one, that leaves only, you." She smiled, pointing to the boy.

His mop of black hair bobbed uncertainly as he nodded, looking from his two friends to the strange woman smiling down at him.

"Good, so we're in the right place. Sorry, but there's not that much time to explain, the only thing I can tell you is that your dad sent us to try to help."

"Help? But…how?" The little bald man managed finally.

"Good question, let's find out, shall we?" Avril strolled down to the opening of the cyclone that was beginning to close up as Frieza rose from it, fury in every line of his face.

"Why you insolent…" She interrupted impatiently.

"You're Frieza, right?" Some calm seemed to return to him.

"My, my, so polite, don't be too hasty, my dear, perhaps you don't know what you are dealing with."

"Not exactly, but that's not the point," Avril looked up at him thoughtfully.

"Oh really? So what exactly is the point?" Frieza demanded," do you know that with a flick of my wrist I can break your neck, my pretty little one?" Avril considered this, with what to Nekita seemed relish. Her eyes, at any rate, were shining like giant suns.

"No kidding," she breathed," excellent, then just give me a minute to get ready, and I'll be right up." For a moment the creature seemed slightly taken aback, he wasn't expecting this sort of response, but his composure was back in an instant.

"You're not suggesting that you will actually attempt to _fight _me?" A slow cruel laugh started on his lips," oh, my dear, don't be absurd!" Avril shrugged and grinned.

"No, I'm serious, like I said, give me about three minutes and I'll be right up." Frieza crossed his arms, an expression of malicious amusement and curiosity coming over his face. He shook his head, sighing.

"You fighters are all alike, all rushing stubbornly into a hopeless battle, oh when will you learn. But it is not my business that you have a death wish, pretty one, so if you're really serious about this, I'll indulge you. Three minutes it is, by that time you better be ready." His eyes glinted pitilessly; he would enjoy crushing this stubborn and strange woman.

Avril didn't appear particularly interested in the main gist of his speech. The only thing that caught her attention was that he agreed to give her the three minutes she needed.

"Wonderful!" She exclaimed, and came back to the three totally confused and more than a little uneasy friends of Goku's.

"What do you think you're doing!" The green guy exploded," this isn't a game! Frieza will crush you with his little finger, don't you realize that?" Avril shook her head, smiling.

"Have a little faith, will ya." She said, beginning to unhook the two leather straps that carried her pistols from around her waist. "Who knows, maybe I'll last a little longer than you think." He snorted disdainfully and turned away, it appeared he wasn't very convinced.

Meantime Avril proceeded to sling down her rifle, after which she bent down and extracted a long knife, attached with a special band to her lower leg. Then she shook out a bundle of needle-shaped darts, along with a special apparatus that looked rather like a flute, that was apparently used for launching them. This done she took out a short dagger from beneath the concealment of her other sleeve, and for the finishing touch dug out two hand-grenades from her pockets. All this she did with the most business like calm, while the others watched with ever widening eyes at the growing arsenal beginning to mount itself on the ground.

Once totally finished disarming herself, Avril turned towards the others.

"What?" She asked innocently, rummaging in her pockets yet again. This time, however, she only took out a small circular pill, this she handed to the bald little man, nodding towards the unconscious Vegeta she explained-

"Give this to your friend when he comes around, it should help with some of the pain. You'll probably need to force it down, so let Tzui-Tzui do it, she'll be able to make water to help it go down easier." The little man took it carefully in his hand, gazing at her with pure disbelief.

"All…all right…but, hey won't you at least tell us who you are, I mean this is all kind of sudden…" He trailed off uncertainly, gazing to the others for support. She shrugged.

"It's not that important, besides, your green friend over there doesn't seem all that impressed with me." Her eyes shone suddenly with an abrupt green light," say…you wouldn't care to place a wager, would you?" She asked slyly.

"What! You mean bet! On what?" She crossed her arms, a small smile curling her lips.

"Twenty says I'll last more than ten minutes."

"You wouldn't last five!" Exclaimed the aforementioned green guy, overhearing the conversation."

"Then it's a bet!" She laughed," and I don't want you going back on your word, so shake on it! 'A pirates honor rests in a handshake,'" she quoted," always." He grunted disgustedly, but extended his large green palm, and rather abruptly shook on the now solid bet.

She nodded in satisfaction, and glanced up briefly at Frieza who was beginning to show signs of impatience. 

"All right," she said, stretching out her arms in front of her, and testing the strength of her legs." That should be it, just stay as far back as you can now, and it would probably be good if you weren't under something very heavy that had the potential to collapse." She considered a moment," that should be it, see ya on the other side!" And with that the pirate grinned and rose into the air, while the others continued staring at her in pure disbelief.

"Take care of yourself, Avril," Nekita said softly, as her friend disappeared from view.

***


	4. Chapter Four

He had seen _her_ again. She didn't know he was watching her, all the while as she talked and moved around. Well she wasn't supposed to, he made sure no one knew he was awake yet, and they wouldn't until he wanted them to.

Vegeta stirred very slightly, trying to shift his position so that his many injuries wouldn't bother him all at the same time. But since to find a position like that was impossible he soon gave it up and continued to watch.

Incredible anger and resentment filled him towards that woman. That strange, laughing, insolent, beautiful woman. Wait, how did that last one get in there? He closed his eyes, wishing that he could see and think clearly, he heard her say something about a pill they were supposed to give him for the pain. Hah! Well he wasn't taking anything like that. Gritting his teeth in determination he looked up slightly to see what the woman was doing now.

She wasn't on the ground anymore, where did she go? He groaned and leaned back, why was it that when he saw her eyes it had hurt him so much? He knew she didn't touch any of his outward injuries but when she looked down at him he felt his heart beat involuntary faster and harder. 

He closed his eyes, shutting out everything around him, but even in the darkness of his mind he could still see her eyes, shining with such joy and energy that they appeared almost to give out a light of their own and pierce the impenetrable darkness that usually lay there.

Vegeta thought that someone was next to him now, but it wasn't _her_. A hand forced a little round pill into his mouth, and an instant later he heard the whispered words-

"Element of water, I bid you appear!" And a gentle trickle of cool water poured down on him from somewhere up above. He groaned in frustration, but allowed himself to swallow the pill, when he got his strength back he would show them all. Especially _her_.

***

Avril floated placidly right across from Frieza, arms crossed, eyes studying her opponent very carefully.

"Well my dear, impressive, impressive indeed, three minutes and not a second more, how did you manage it? I only hope that it was enough to make you last a few moments at least in this little fight." She shrugged.

"It should be, but we'll see." He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Will we? Tell you what, since you are such a pretty little child I'll even do you a favor, I'll fight on the ground, using only one arm, and at zero percent of my full power." Avril raised an eyebrow.

"We'll fight in the air, you use all your appendages, please, I don't need any favors, and fight at your full power, or as close to it as you can get." He laughed.

"My, my, so eager to die are we? We'll I'll humor you, in the air it is, but before you go asking for my full power, perhaps you should see what only a little bit of it can do." He extended an arm, and from his palm emerged a cold violet light growing in intensity and size until it erupted away from him, and flew directly towards Avril.

The pirate extended two fingers, and hit it away easily; not even appearing to notice that what she hit was a blast of pure energy and not a little toy.

Frieza's eyes widened very slightly, but he quickly regained composure.

"Ahhh, so you are tougher than you seem, well, well, that makes no difference, since that little ball of nothing only took up an insignificant fraction of a percent compared to what I could really do." She sighed impatiently.

"Quit boasting, and let's get down to it."

"Ladies first."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," Avril teased.

"Why you…" Frieza came directly at her, whipping out with his tail. She dodged easily, and spun to the back of him, he turned trying to punch her, and she dropped down out of reach. He moved quickly to try to reach her, and she disappeared.

Frieza floated for a moment in the air, slightly at a loss as to what to do next.

Suddenly a swift kick came in contact with his stomach, sending him coughing in unexpected pain. A well-directed punch, from nowhere, caused him to fly a few feet out. And still there was no sign of his opponent. He tried to right himself in mid-air, furiously scanning the air and the ground for any trace of her, but another quick hit to the stomach, followed by a second and third sent him reeling backwards.

"Where are you!" He called out in anger. Avril reappeared, frowning.

"Now will you quit doing me favors and play all out?" He wiped a little trickle of violet blood from the corner of his mouth, and peered down at it as if not quite sure where it came from. Then his eyes narrowed and he gazed with pure hatred at the woman across from him. Who had the nerve to cause him pain, who could cause him pain. He clenched his fist, and laughed softly.

"Ridiculous child, don't you know that I am fighting using none of my actual energy what's so ever."

"Well, yeah!" she cried out," and quit it, power up right now, or else this won't even be an interesting fight, it will just be a short one." Fury returned to his face. How dare she! How dare she challenge his power and look down on it as inferior. She was actually pushing him into using all of his strength, something he had never had to do to finish any opponent. An evil glow came into his red eyes.

"Very well," he said hoarsely," let's see how you like this." Turning slightly away from Avril, Frieza bowed his head slightly, and extended his arms on either side. He would show her, he would make her pay for her insolence, and then, then this world and this universe were as good as his. All he had to do was take care of this minor annoyance. A small smile came across his face; it was only a matter of moments now.

***

Piccolo stared in total disbelief up at the quickly moving figure of Avril and at Frieza's now stationary form. He couldn't help staring, what he saw was completely unexpected. The woman had seemed so small to him, so completely inexperienced as a trained fighter that he figured she was going in there for a maximum of five minutes. But the girl had proved him wrong. Boy had she proved him wrong, managing to get the most amount of affective blows into the fight, without so much as breaking a sweat. And now his expert ears caught a shred of what she was saying to Frieza. She was actually _asking_ him to use his full power against her. She was either very crazy or very brave, and whichever one it was, it looked like she may just be able to give them the little bit of strength they needed to win.

Next to him, Krillin was carefully watching the other woman. The quieter one that was now beside Vegeta, looking over his many injuries. She raised her solemn gray eyes briefly from the sayjin up towards the sky to see the battle.

Nekita could feel the force of Frieza's power growing, he wasn't boasting or bluffing, his true strength was far greater than any of them could imagine. But then again, Avril had a few more tricks up her sleeve as well.

She sighed and got up; walking over to the cluster of people who still regarded her rather suspiciously.

Krillin flushed faintly as she neared, and turned away quickly.

"Your friend wasn't kidding when she said she could take him, was she," Piccolo observed still watching the sky. Nekita smiled sheepishly.

"Avril always means what she says." She said firmly.

"Let's just hope this time she isn't over her head," he grumbled stiffly. Nekita frowned faintly and looked up.

She could never tell exactly what Avril was thinking, and to know what she would do next was impossible, but one thing she knew for certain. Avril never went into a fight without being confident that she had a chance. The odds could be totally against her, but if deep inside she believed she had the slightest possibility of victory she would fight, no matter what. Nekita only hoped that this time she didn't underestimate her opponent.

***

King Kai strained every nerve in his little body, trying to make every muscle obey him. He must know what was going on, on Namek; he had to hone in on every tiny bit of energy that was able to reach him. Extending his antennae further he moved slightly forward, making the two people hanging on to his shoulders move with him.

"What is it King Kai?" Tien asked uncertainly, trying to pick out what the energy signal he felt was.

"Ohhh, someone different is with Frieza now, but…I can't seem to be able to pick out their energy signal, either it's blending in with something…or they don't have one."

"But…but that's impossible how could they possibly have the strength to even _fight_ Frieza if they don't have any energy of their own?" King Kai wagged his antennae slightly, as if to say 'who knows?'

"Whoever it is, they'll need all the help they can get." With that the little blue creature clamped his mouth shut, but not before thinking with all his might "Where are you Goku?"

***


	5. Chapter Five

A small bulb of violet light appeared in one of Frieza's cupped hands, pulsing larger for a moment, the fading away. An identical phenomenon happened in his other hand, going through a similar pattern before fading away as well.

Avril waited patiently as the strange creature powered up to his full strength, or at least as much of it as he would allow himself. She watched carefully, taking in every line of his form as he floated in front of her, watching for the faintest twitch or movement to tell her when he would come at her, because it was clear that he was through doing her favors, and the real fight would begin.

The lights faded, and suddenly…

A strong hard kick hit Avril directly in the stomach, she allowed herself to fall back slightly, barely noticing the pain. Grinning, hard, she twisted underneath him, and grabbing hold of his tail, spun him around, letting go quickly, and making him slam into a tall cliff jutting out in the middle of the green lake below them.

The rock caved in sharply, raining down into the waters and burying Frieza with it.

Avril lowered slightly, to wait for him to dig himself out, since she knew a mere collision with a wall of solid rock shouldn't do much except maybe bruise him a little.

In a moment a shower of brilliant white light broke from the cracks of the remaining cliff, and Frieza reappeared throwing back the little bits of stray rock still around him.

His shoulders were heaving angrily, and his eyes shone with such pure hatred that it would turn away any other opponent in an instant. But Avril remained perfectly poised, gazing down at him placidly and watching for his next movement.

"Strange child," he coaxed suddenly, rising up again," why do you fight me, for sport maybe? Oh, that is not kind, not kind at all, do you know if the two of us joined we would be unstoppable? The universe would be yours and mine, my dear, if only you stopped all this nonsense and considered how much easier it would be on you, if you continue fighting it will only lead to your death. But if you join me, whole worlds would bow down to you. Only think of it." Avril cocked her head to one side.

"Do you offer this little piece of paradise to everyone?" She demanded.

"Anyone who I see has the potential for greatness." He said smoothly, believing the battle won.

"Well! And I was about to feel special, but if you make this little touching speech to every second person who decides to fight you, then I'll just have to decline." 

"You ungrateful…" She put up one index finger.

"Please, no names, let's keep this civil, after all there are children present." This sent Frieza into a total rage; he lunged without warning, attempting to wrap his tail about Avril's neck in a finishing move.

The pirate dodged easily, kicking repeatedly at his chest and stomach as she continued to spin out of reach. He countered with a whip of the tail that sent her flying back. Righting herself quickly, Avril slipped behind him, and slammed into his back, sending him hurtling to the ground.

As he fell he forced himself upright, and sent a powerful beam of energy directly at her. This one was not the little ball of light that the other had been; it was a huge globe of power, almost impossible to stop.

Avril stretched out both hands, and charged into it, forcing it back with her palms. Clenching her teeth, she pushed with all her might. The countering pressure grazed against her palms, tearing her skin and sending droplets of blood flying to the ground, but she ignored this completely using all her concentration to hold back the blast. With a final surge of strength she shoved the huge ball of light back at Frieza.

He smiled cruelly and hit it away, but now it was headed towards the small group of people by the shore of the lake. Avril flew swiftly, gaining on the light, and quickly outdistancing it. Just as it reached the edge of the water, she jumped in its way allowing its full force to hit her, rather than harm her friend on the beach, because at the moment Nekita was the first thing that the blast would have come in contact with.

There was a huge explosion, rising up in clouds of smoke high above the valleys of Namek and filling the sky with artificial clouds.

Frieza laughed viciously, seeing the sparks of light fly all around him, and enjoying every moment of it. At last he had gotten rid of that irritating woman.

Nekita gasped in horror, searching the dust for any sign of Avril, hoping against all odds that the pirate had somehow survived the blast.

But that was impossible, nothing could survive it, not even the determined, energetic Avril. She looked around desperately, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. Someone was holding her carefully, keeping her on the ground, away from the dangers of crumbling rock and rushing water. Barely conscious of anything except the overwhelming sadness she felt for Avril's loss, she nevertheless did manage to see that it was the bald little man that clasped her so tightly. She attempted to extract herself from his grasp, to get up; to try to help Avril, but he wouldn't let her go.

"Please," she cried," please let go, I have to help her…" Krillin shook his head sadly.

"I…I don't think she made it." He said gently, trying to keep Nekita from tearing away and rushing directly into the rubble of the fallen cliff face, which was still shaking and breaking apart. She shook her head firmly, Avril couldn't be dead, she just couldn't, there was no way that a life like that could just be snuffed out in a moment. The tears came faster and she began to sob uncontrollably, what would she do without Avril, where would she go without the constant cheerful help that she always got from the pirate?

Krillin continued holding her rather awkwardly as she cried, desperately trying to think of something comforting to say, but finding his mind totally empty of everything except sadness for the woman he held and the woman they lost.

Gohan suddenly popped up from somewhere in the dust, coughing for a few moments before managing to stagger to where he saw the small blurry outline of his friend.

"She's gone…isn't she," he said softly, placing his small hand on Nekita's shoulder, she didn't answer but Krillin nodded gently. What were they going to do now? With no Goku, and the stranger out of the fight they were as good as sitting ducks. Gohan bowed his head sadly, there was no hope left now.


	6. Chapter Six

A sudden very unlikely sound came to their ears

A sudden very unlikely sound came to their ears.

A very loud and fluent string of curses said in rapid succession and with extreme irritation. Nekita's head snapped up from where it was resting on Krillin's shoulder, and she looked with blurred vision directly in front of her, where the dust was beginning to thin a little bit, and clear a space for her to see.

Swinging down from a little crevice of rock, and landing with all the grace of a cat was Avril. 

She stood up, dusting herself off, and still muttering something under her breath. Then she looked up and grinned hugely.

Gohan looked like he would fall over, and so did Krillin, Nekita jumped to her feet and ran to her friend.

"Avril!" She cried joyfully, flinging her arms about the pirate and hugging her," you're alive!"

"Of course," Avril replied matter-of-factly, patting Nekita's head with the outside of her palm, since the insides were all scratched up and bleeding," you didn't think I was that easy to kill, did you Tzui-Tzui." Nekita pulled away and looked skeptically up at Avril's shining eyes. The pirate wasn't even hurt, she shook out a few stray pebbles from her hair, and a little bit more dust from her clothes, and appeared ready to go back into the fight, not even a little out of breath. "I think you guys had better head for some better cover or something," she observed," it looks like he's finally bringing out the heavy artillery." Nekita blinked in disbelief.

"Then…you'll keep going, but…he almost…" Avril laughed.

"He almost managed to scratch me, he's still holding back, and it's beginning to annoy me, keep covered, 'kay, and try to keep these guys safe." With that she lifted into the air and floated back into Frieza's view.

The look on the monster's face when he saw her rise up out of the smoke, completely unharmed, and more determined than ever to beat him was priceless. Such a combination of total shock, fury, and even a little bit of uneasy fear had never before showed itself on any face.

She grinned cheerfully and saluted him.

"Miss me?" She asked, in response he sent out another blast, but she dodged this one easily, since its aim was impaired by his evident anger.

A sudden cold light appeared in Frieza's eyes. Nothing he had done so far had had any affect at all on her, nothing except when he directed his energy towards her friends. _Then_ she jumped in the way to save them. So, perhaps if he concentrated on taking out her friends, he could get her distracted enough to finally finish her off for good.

Yes, the plan was exactly to his liking, causing the most amount of pain and at the same time taking care of business. Perfect.

He wasted no more time, lowering slightly out of Avril's reach; he pointed a finger at the beach. Now, who first. His eyes rested on the small robed figure that was foremost among those on the ground. As good as any, he though carelessly. Willing a good amount of force into the blast, he let go with a shimmering arrow of pure energy, directed directly at the little priestess on the ground.

It came so quickly and suddenly that Avril didn't have time to dodge in front of it, and neither did anyone on the ground. It sped towards its mark, and hit Nekita in the next instant, sending her flying to the ground, with a choked cry of pain.

Krillin and Gohan were beside her in the next moment, trying to see how bad the damage was, and if the girl was still breathing. The looks they exchanged said nothing good.

Frieza looked up slowly, seeing the affect this would have on his difficult opponent. 

Avril was very still for a moment, no expression showed in her eyes, or on her face, it was as if her spirit had left her and was now hovering over the tiny figure of her friend.

Frieza smiled in cruel satisfaction, drifting higher he kicked out at her, she let him. He punched her in the stomach; she didn't do anything to stop him. Oh, this was going to be too easy.

He continued punching her, making each hit sharper and more painful, making her suffer as much as he could. But she didn't even seem to notice. Her eyes were totally blank; they showed neither pain nor fear, sadness nor outrage, all the light was gone from them.

Frieza whipped his tail around, sending it winding about her neck, now to finish her off. His eyes narrowed in his pure evil pleasure.

Suddenly her head snapped around, and one hand easily caught his tail, twisting it away from her. With the same abruptness that all the light seemed to go out of her, it came back, full force and as raging as ever.

One long, slender finger pointed directly at him.

"You see," she said, her voice dangerously low," now you've gone and made me mad." And with that the finger pushed itself into his shoulder. What seemed like nothing more than a touch for those looking up from the ground, sent Frieza hurtling backwards with such amazing force that it was a wonder he stayed in the atmosphere of the planet at all, let alone in the battlefield.

Avril never let anything get to her when she was fighting, nothing her opponents did upset her in the least, because she never paid attention to anything except their movements. But when someone went after her friends, then it got personal. And when it got personal you better watch out.

***

Vegeta forced himself to his feet, staggering immediately backwards, and almost falling to the ground again. He clenched his teeth in pure determination and attempted to look up, but the light around him seemed unnaturally bright, and the things near him looked like nothing more than shapeless blobs. He grunted irritably and tried to take a few steps forward.

This only made him dizzier and the desire to sink down to the earth again stronger. What was in that pill anyway? He thought, thoroughly annoyed, why was it making him feel this way? The only upside to all this was that now he couldn't feel any of his limbs, let alone any injury that may be located on them.

He squinted, trying to see what was going on in front of him. Through his blurred and uncertain vision he thought he saw a cluster of dark shapes huddled around something, he couldn't recognize any of them, and he couldn't make out what they were saying, which sounded like senseless gibberish in his ringing ears.

Completely frustrated, and more than a little angry he at last managed to keep his eyes up long enough to see something in the sky.

Two shapes, one small and slender, as if carved from darkness in the midst of all the light, and the other bulky and clumsy compared with what faced it.

Without realizing it Vegeta sank back to the ground, his eyes glued to the sky.

It was _her_ it had to be. For some reason that was the only natural conclusion that came to him. But what was she doing up there? She couldn't possibly be fighting, and if she was she couldn't hope to win. Either way the battle was lost for her. He knew, he had experienced Frieza's true power. In another few moments the creature would get tired of this senseless game and finish her off.

He covered his eyes wearily with his hand. The knowledge that in a matter of minutes that beautiful form would be wiped out forever sent a strange chill through him. Why should it do that? He wondered what kind of hold did that woman have over him anyway? He had only seen her for a fraction of a second, and now he couldn't stop thinking about anything else.

Extremely exasperated with this new strange feeling he found in himself, a feeling that he regarded as a weakness Vegeta attempted to rise again. No one could affect him in such a way, he was the Prince of Sayjins, and he needed no one.

***

Goku stretched out comfortably and opened his eyes sleepily. Having no special machine to help him along with his recovery, and having been only partially healed before he resorted to the old fashioned way of getting better.

Taking a nap.

Now he awoke feeling very refreshed and extremely hungry, and wishing very earnestly that he had thought to eat a big meal before coming all this way.

Rubbing his eyes, he yawned and stood up. For a moment he was a little disoriented, then seeing the spot where he had fallen asleep and its surroundings recognition came back to him, and with it memory.

His many aches didn't hurt as much anymore, and he felt a good deal stronger than before, an affect of being in that fancy machine, no doubt. Overall he felt revitalized and refreshed, and ready for action.

Turning his big, bright eyes in the direction where the fight must have been going on, he tried to feel out what was happening.

Frieza's energy he felt right away, unbelievably strong, and still growing. But the girl, her energy he couldn't trace at all. He couldn't feel it from the beginning, but as she stood there holding his hand he had seen something in her eyes that he didn't believe he had seen anywhere else. There was such an overwhelming amount of courage and determination in their depths, such pure vitality and cheerfulness that you couldn't help but trust her. She believed in herself, and if she believed then there was nothing else left for you to do except to believe also.

He shook his head wonderingly. Frieza's energy was still raging, but near it, somewhere not too far off he could still feel the faint reflection of Vegeta's power, and of Piccolo's fading strength. That meant that both of them were alive, which led him to believe that Avril wasn't doing too bad a job.

But now that he had recovered his strength, he was ready. Deep inside he felt that without him, the battle with Frieza was as good as lost, that something within him would give them that extra surge of power they needed to beat him.

So now, it was up to him to save the universe and every living thing in it.

Taking a very quick, wistful look at the cupboards surrounding him, stocked no doubt with enough food to feed an army, he slowly rose into the air.

Any thought of eating left him as soon as he felt that surge of excitement that told him he was going into a new battle, and that the winner of this battle would emerge victorious over the entire universe.

Grinning in pure determination, Goku flew higher and with an amazing burst of speed headed towards the battlegrounds.

***


End file.
